Archives for 2015

What’s Your Homemaking Bottleneck?

February 18, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 17 Comments

Heidi from A Lively Hope is guest posting today! Finding your bottleneck is a well-known business efficiency practice. If you can find the one problem that slows your business down and fix that problem, you can expect to see drastic results. This idea applies equally well to homemaking. I realized this not long ago, after […]

A Valentine’s Day Surprise

February 15, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 19 Comments

Yesterday was a very fun day! The kids woke up to the table all decorated with balloons and candy. They read all the Valentine’s they made for each other and then came the best part. I put little surprises in each balloon so they got to pop them! Gideon liked the balloons popping but at the […]

Teaching Children to Sit Reverently at Church

February 11, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 8 Comments

Ah, church, the place where one is supposed to be reverent and listen quietly to the speakers or teachers. For little ones it can be particularly hard, especially if church is comprised of long meetings like our typical Mormon church services are. How do you teach children to sit reverently at church? Shannon, who blogs […]

Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

February 10, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 6 Comments

Last night the kids helped me bake dozens and dozens of sugar cookies, both regular and chocolate. Always gotta have some chocolate! It’s tradition to make sugar cookies close to Valentine’s Day. There are just some really neat ways to make hearts while decorating with Royal Icing! You can see some of them on a […]

DNA, Ancestry, and Who You Are

February 6, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 13 Comments

Genetics is fascinating. What makes you who you are, at least genetically? Does it matter? Does having a specific set of DNA give you a certain identity? In the October 2013 National Geographic there was an article called the Changing Face of America that explored how multiracial the population of America is becoming. My family […]

5 Ideas for a Quick Mom Pick-Me-Up

February 4, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 5 Comments

As mothers and wives we spend most of our days serving others. I find great joy is cooking a meal, helping my children get dressed, teaching early morning seminary, folding laundry (I LOVE to fold laundry!) but if I’m not careful I can easily do too much. I become depleted and reach a breaking point. […]

Apron and Book Winners!

February 1, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 2 Comments

If you get a chance you really should go and read the memories people have that involve aprons. It was a lot of fun to to read! I even found out some readers’ great-grandmother lived and cooked on a ranch just north of us. How cool is that? Now every one needs to go write […]

52 Weeks to Fortify Your Family {Review & Giveaway}

January 29, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 38 Comments

Wait, what? Two giveaways in a row? Yes! I knew when I reviewed this book that I wanted to give one away because it is that good for helping families. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Want to know who won? Look here! My hope is that anyone who visits this blog realizes how much […]

The Humble Apron

January 28, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 50 Comments

On the heels of last week’s post, Moms Should Dress for Success, this week it’s all about . . . Aprons The word conjures up images of grandmother or mother baking in the kitchen or doing housework. Gathering eggs, wood, or flowers. Or bringing in the garden’s bounty. It brings to mind days of yore […]

Welcome to our Homeschool – Beehive Academy

January 25, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 11 Comments

Our family has been using Sonlight Curriculum for the past eight years. We LOVE the literature and history emphasis! Sonlight is celebrating their 25th anniversary by hosting a blog party on the 25th of each month throughout the year.You don’t have to use Sonlight to join in on the party! I decided to participate to […]

Moms Should Dress for Success

January 21, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 27 Comments

It was lunchtime. The temperature on that mid-August day was sweltering at 105. It was all hands on deck as harvest on the third crop of alfalfa was fully underway. My job was to feed the extra farm crew, a couple of Mr. Ferrero Rocher’s brothers and several nephews. And, boy, were they hungry! It […]

The Conductor

January 19, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 3 Comments

There is no doubt that Junior Mint loves music. He likes to dance and hum when we are listening to music but when someone is playing the piano he especially loves to conduct. Yesterday a kind lady in our ward took this video of Junior Mint “conducting” while I played the prelude music before Relief […]

Establish a House – A Home Making Series

January 13, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 8 Comments

Establish a House will be coming back in full force starting next Wednesday, January 21st!!! I began this series after a discussion in a facebook group about whether or not their families used tablecloths. I wrote a post about what we do and the response was overwhelming. It was so interesting to see what other […]

HOME

January 12, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 10 Comments

This past month or so I have realized I need to focus more on my family and home. Even as we face new adventures with the older ones leaving the nest for college or getting married it’s time to reassess and refocus. There will be a lot of organizing this year as a result of […]

#2015FaceofAccreta

January 8, 2015 by Montserrat {Cranial Hiccups} 3 Comments

Have you ever heard of accreta? Basically its when the placenta begins to attach itself abnormally to the uterine wall. The worst form of accreta is called percreta where the placenta actually penetrates through the uterus and attaches to other organs such as the bladder. It is a very dangerous condition and my friend Jen […]